From taking on a Southern accent to doing karate to transform into the King of Rock ‘n Roll, Butler pushed himself to the limit for the role. Yet “Elvis” writer-director Baz Luhrmann added another layer to recreate the emotions behind Presley’s biggest performances. “Well, when I was on my first day in the recording studio, Baz wanted me to get as close to performing as possible,” Butler explained to VMAN....

During the 1990s, after McGregor’s success with Danny Boyle’s “Trainspotting” in 1996, McGregor second-guessed signing on to “Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” McGregor portrayed the younger version of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the 1999 trilogy, a role which he later reprised for the Disney+ series that premiered earlier this year. “I really had to think about it,” McGregor said during the “Smartless” podcast, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes....

Many Nicolas Cage movies are genre-exercise VOD exclusives, but “Pig” stands out with excellent reviews (82 Metacritic) and his performance as a truffle hunter in search of his beloved pig received some the best reviews of his career. It placed on all three charts and as high as #2 on iTunes. (Vudu and FandangoNow, both on-demand movie sites under the same ownership, combined under the Vudu brand this week.)...

One thing missing from the upcoming awards lineup: January’s Golden Globes, which has been canceled as the Hollywood Foreign Press institutes long overdue reforms. Looking to fill that gap are beefed-up iterations of the Gotham, Independent Spirits, and Critics Choice Awards (CCA). Here’s our (constantly updated) list of awards dates to remember: Wednesday, September 1, 2021 Venice International Film Festival opens Thursday, September 2, 2021 Telluride Film Festival opens Submissions open for the MPSE Golden Reel Awards Thursday, September 9, 2021 Toronto International Film Festival opens Wednesday, September 15, 2021 Submissions close for Gotham Awards Wednesday, September 22, 2021 PGA Awards submission deadline for documentary motion pictures Friday, September 24, 2021 New York Film Festival opens Monday, September 27, 2021 Submissions open for Critics Choice Awards (CCA) TV categories Submissions open for Costume Designers Guild (CDGA) and accessible on CDG website Monday, October 4, 2021 Submissions open for Art Directors Guild (ADG) TV and feature categories Submissions open for American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Feature and TV categories Wednesday, October 6, 2021 BFI London Film Festival opens Wednesday, October 13, 2021 PGA Awards submission deadline for theatrical and animated motion pictures Monday, October 18, 2021 Critics Choice Documentary nominations announced Thursday, October 21, 2021 Gotham Awards nominations announced Monday, October 25, 2021 International Documentary Association features and shorts shortlist announced Monday, November 1, 2021 Submissions open for ACE Eddie Awards nominations Monday, November 8, 2021 Submissions for ADG TV close Submissions open for Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS) online Announce DGA documentary nominees Tuesday, November 9, 2021 Cinema Audio Society (CAS) entry submission form available online Wednesday, November 10, 2021 AFI FEST opens Sunday, November 14, 2021 Critics Choice Documentary Awards announced...

“There used to be studio films,” Coppola said. “Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different. Even the talented people — you could take ‘Dune,’ made by Denis Villeneuve, an extremely talented, gifted artist, and you could take ‘No Time to Die’ directed by… Cary Fukunaga — extremely gifted, talented, beautiful artists, and you could take both those movies, and you and I could go and pull the same sequence out of both of them and put them together....

“Ghost Lab” kicks off as a clumsy horror comedy set in what seems like Bangkok’s emptiest hospital (this movie has more genres than extras), where a pair of young residents have been drawn to the medical profession for their own morbid reasons. Wee (actor/model/pop star Thanapob “Tor” Leeratanakachorn) is the more serious-minded of the two; he became a doctor to care for his long-suffering mom, on her deathbed in the hospital’s long-term care unit for the better part of the past decade....

Have a gamer in your life you need to shop for? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Shopping for gamers can get complicated, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for, or how to get started. Without specific requests, it’s not always easy to pick out the perfect gift. To help streamline your shopping experience, we’ve put together a gamer-centric gift guide with a wide range of items to pick from....

The #FireGinaCarano hashtag began picking up steam last week, but has continued to build momentum after Disney+ dropped the “Chapter 12” episode of “The Mandalorian” on Friday, in which Carano stars. But at the same time, #StandWithGinaCarano has also begun trending on Twitter in response from fans who feel the plea to cast Carano out of the show is another example of censorship, and cancel culture gone too far....

Days 3 through 5 of a midweek opener usually account for anywhere from 50 percent to double the gross of days 1 and 2. At the low end, a $35 million gross would still qualify as quite successful — but here’s why it’s likely that the higher estimates would hold. “Godzilla vs. Kong” made $9.6 million on Wednesday and $6.7 million on Thursday. Those numbers weren’t boosted by the usual Tuesday previews — but the film benefits from the Good Friday holiday recognized by most schools and many businesses....

“Hold on, Donald Trump is contesting the result,” he said. “He’s claiming that a lot of dead people voted, which is a very rude thing to say about the HFPA.” The HFPA took a real beating this year as presenters took the opportunity to rip into the organization for its lack of diversity. In his first speech, Baron Cohen spread out the jibes between the HFPA and Rudy Giuliani, who appears in the film in a highly compromised position....

The Los Angeles Times’s scorching piece on February 21 revealed that along with accusations of self-dealing and an overall lack of voting transparency, the organization had voted not to hire a diversity consultant in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests last summer, and declined to participate in press conferences for “Bridgerton,” “Girls Trip,” and “Queen and Slim,” among others. It’s a lot to keep track of, so head over here for a detailed timeline of every scandal that has befallen the Hollywood Foreign Press Association so far this year....

Writer/director Gray revealed to Vulture that producer Harvey Weinstein threatened to release the historical epic starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner as a TV movie. “The Immigrant” was nominated for the Palme d’Or in 2013. Upon a theatrical release almost exactly a year later in 2014, “The Immigrant” flopped at the box office, failed to garner awards attention, and speculation has since abounded over what is clearly a sore subject for Gray and the cast....

A second source told IndieWire that HBO Max has made the choice to spend some time away from the kids-and-family sandbox. It’s a crowded and expensive field, and HBO Max isn’t a breakout brand for that type of programming. Disney+ and Netflix will vie for the kids’ market, one with no opportunity for ad revenue — both made a pledge to let the programming run commercial free — in the time when AVOD is not only king, but is also the future of the streamers’ plans for revenue growth....

Kelli Amirah posted a TikTok video last month explaining that her skin was darkened on “Lovecraft Country” in order to play a younger version of a character in a wedding photo that appeared in one episode. The actress noted she heard makeup artists saying she was “a little lighter” than the actress she was playing the younger version of, thus makeup was used on her face and hands to darken her skin....

The series was a jump for the actress, not just because she was coming off the time-travel weirdness of “Loki.” But it was an opportunity to take the reins as an associate producer on the limited series, collaborating on several of the day-to-day elements as well as playing a frustrated, sometimes scared, woman searching for answers. On top of that, the performers were all telling a story of isolation and frustration in a pandemic, with One Folgate Street — the main set for the entirety of production — taking on added significance....

Below, IndieWire has compiled a list of upcoming programs either already scheduled or fully expected to premiere this year, so you can rest assured in what’s coming. In the list below, learn all about HBO’s 2021 dramas, comedies, limited series, and more, from plot descriptions and cast lists to production timelines and possible premiere dates. To be clear, this is a 2021 preview for HBO, not HBO Max. Yes, many viewers will be watching both brands’ programs via the same service, but so long as the big wigs at WarnerMedia are making a distinction between the two content creators, so will we....

Meanwhile, on Friday Vertical Entertainment dropped an action film, “The Informer,” which stars Joel Kinnaman as an ex-con who returns to prison undercover to expose a Polish drug cartel. Shot in 2017 and released in most of the world in 2019, this title from the director of “Escobar: Paradise Lost” is unlikely to show up on anyone’s awards-season list. However, even at $19.99 to rent, it topped two major VOD charts this weekend....

After viewing the first episode, which began streaming Thursday, that missing puzzle piece seems to be that the famed reality TV family are treated like your average (“average”) documentary subjects. Unlike “KUWTK,” “The Kardashians” isn’t an at-times canned public relations attempt to grab headlines with “serious conversations” sprinkled between commercials. Rather, this family isn’t overtly driving a narrative; they’re just being. That isn’t to say that there aren’t immediate headline-making moments: Kim Kardashian’s sex tape scandal is referenced in the premiere, as well as her “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut....

“We have credibility in sports, so you use that credibility to get started,” Skipper said before boarding an airplane traveling south-by-southwest to SXSW. There, he and former ESPN host-turned-Meadowlark partner Dan Le Batard will tape leading sports podcast “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” March 13 and 14 (from 3-5:30 p.m. CT) with a live studio audience at Austin’s Four Seasons Hotel. Le Batard is also hosting a conversation at SXSW’s Athlete Empowerment Summit with Ricky Williams, the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner who now does astrology readings on the podcast....

If you haven’t already heard, the Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 6 Pro went up for pre-order on Tuesday and techies have been rushing to get their hands on the highly anticipated phones ahead of the October 28 release date. Google describes the Pixel 6 as “completely reimagined, inside and out.” The smart phone is an upgrade from the Pixel 5 both in size and function. Features include its first custom-made chip, a 50 megapixel camera, user-friendly interface, and a sleeker yet slightly larger display....